Church Fundraising

Just mention the words “church fundraising,” and you’re likely to see downtrodden faces and people running in all directions to escape – especially if they’ve been through this before, and realize what a load of work it can be.  These days, it nearly seems a normal part of the annual schedule to hold at least one fundraiser.  There are always needs in the church, whether the choir needs new robes, the fellowship hall needs to be expanded, or there are so many teens that a gym needs to be built for all of the activities going on.  Don’t let church fundraising scare you – there are easier ways to raise all of the money you need than what you’ve likely been through in the past.

If you have a large membership consisting of many age groups, church fundraising becomes easier.  For example, the elderly ladies of the church can combine all of their best recipes to create a cookbook that members of the church can sell to their friends, family and co-workers.  Teens are often found holding a car wash at a fast-food restaurant on the busiest street in town.  Bake sales are another common method that is used to raise funds.  Hold a huge yard sale, or even auction off items that church members no longer want or use.

The easy solution for successful church fundraising is discount cards, because of the value they offer and the exceptional profits.  If your church as ever sold products such as candy bars, popcorn, cookie dough or candles, you know the profit margins aren’t that high – and that you have to sell tons of the product in order to reach your goal.  Other things like catalog sales require extra work; not only do customers have to choose which product they want to order, you have to compile all of the orders together, send it off with the correct amount of money (after gathering funds from perhaps hundreds of people), and wait for the order to arrive – at which point you must go BACK out again to deliver the items to the customer.  Not much fun, is it?

Discount cards make church fundraising easy because you have an item the size of a credit card that offers great discounts and savings on services and products in your local area.  Everyone loves to save money, especially in tough economic times like we are currently experiencing.  Savings at fast food restaurants, on oil-changes, hair cuts, flowers and family activities are an example of what you may find on these cards, which are good for a year.  The customer saves a ton of money, the local merchants benefit from new business, and your church easily raises the funds they need.

People love these cards for church fundraising for another reason too:  Planning is a breeze!  If you’ve ever been involved in the planning stages of a fundraiser before, you know that it can end up being a lot more detailed than you anticipated.  How many of a certain product do you have to sell to raise the money you need?  How can you possibly raise the funds with x amount of participants?  There are many factors involved, and it takes careful planning.  With discount cards, it’s easy, and the company where you purchase them often does most of the groundwork for you, such as securing the local merchants participation and printing up the cards.

Has church fundraising become a real hassle, something that you no longer look forward to?  Change up your usual routine, and try something different next time.  Once you see how easy it is to raise the funds you need with discount cards, you’ll never go back to the old way of doing things!

Mark South
Easy Church Fundraising